MORE Tarita!

Just when I thought my collection had all of the Tarita shots possible, along come two new ones. For Daveland newbies, here are the three previously posted shots from 1961 showing the beautiful young Polynesian lass who was once married to Marlon Brando.





Of the five images that I have in my collection, this Adventureland photo is the only one where you actually see any guests nearby. Either security was really ramped up or poor Tarita was not generating much interest...or these shots were taken before the park opened. I'll let you draw your own conclusion.



From the publicity blurb that accompanied the two newly acquired photos:

TAHITIAN BEAUTY…Tarita, 19-year old feminine lead of "MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY," on her first trip away from her native Island paradise takes in the sights and participates in the fun of the world-famed Disneyland. The gorgeous Polynesian plays opposite Marlon Brando in the spectacular motion picture which is being filmed primarily in and around Tahiti. Aaron Rosenberg has produced the Areola production with Lewis Milestone directing.



Here she is standing in front of the Astro Jets attraction:



Vintage signage geeks will probably appreciate this close-up more than any views of Tarita!



Craving more Astrojets? Ride on over to my page on my main website.

Ghost Hunting in Savannah

While I do believe in ghosts and the supernatural, I am not much of a believer in the plethora of ghost tours that thrive in my favorite southern city of Savannah. I find it difficult to comprehend that those in the afterlife choose to perform on command 3 times a night for the tourists. Still, when my friends wanted to do a late-night ghost tour of the Sorrel-Weed house, I went along for the fun. At the very least, it was an opportunity to get some photos...and create a blog post!



The group who had signed up for the 11pm tour waited in the courtyard between the back of the house and the Carriage House.



I couldn't sit still and took the opportunity to snap a few shots before everyone arrived. Here's an interior of the carriage house, where Sorrel's wife Matilda leapt to her death from the second floor upon discovering her husband was having an affair with a slave girl. At least that's the story guests are told. However, by the time of Matilda's suicide in 1859, the Sorrel family had already moved to a different home. Oops.



When everyone had assembled, we were ushered into the Carriage House for the 411 on our evening. We were given not only ghost hunting tips, but equipment as well, including an EVP detector. For those not in the know, EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomena.



There were three areas that our groups would be visiting at different times throughout the night. The basement/cellar area:



The main level of the house:



Our directions from the tour guide were given with the lights on:



The living room, where I positioned myself for most of the night testing the low light settings of my camera.



My friend Grant was more into the spirit of the proceedings, testing out the EVP equipment. And yes, the lights were completely out for us.



Except for a light in the hallway by the staircase to the cellar. Spooky!



Our next assignment was to hunt ghosts in the cellar. I was probably most spooked in this area.



Here are the silhouettes of Grant and Shawn, who actually felt something push his leg when he was seated on the couch.



Our last tour of duty was on the second floor of the Carriage House. I was probably more concerned about whether this dilapidated structure would hold us. The house is in very bad need of some structural restoration!



By this time all three of us were pretty tired, as it was close to one in the morning.



Although there were a few tales of mild paranormal activity from people in the different groups (emphasis on mild), I would say that overall the night was a bust. Still, it was a ton of fun and I would recommend it to anyone interested in this kind of thing. Just keep your expectations low.

More Sorrel-Weed House photos at my main website.<

Myra at Disneyland

This 1950s publicity shot really got my attention when I noticed the old Frontierland Depot in the background. I'm not sure who Myra Joyce Olson was, but this lucky little girl had her picture taken and splashed all over the newspapers of the day. Here's the accompanying publicity blurb:

Myra Joyce Olson gets the best form Chief Shooting Star in Frontierland, Disneyland, California.

A closer look at the drum:



Chief Shooting Star can be seen in these other shots from my collection from 1955:





More Disneyland Indian Village photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: The Little Colonel

This vintage shot of Shirley Temple came with the accompanying publicity blurb:

Between scenes of "The Little Colonel," in which she is co-starred with Lionel Barrymore, Shirley Temple tries her hand at operating the huge gyroscopic camera used by Arthur Miller in filming the picture.

"The Little Colonel" is also the breakout movie where Shirley actually held hands with a man of color. While this may not seem like much today, back in 1935 it was huge.



The staircase dance between Bill Robinson and Shirley Temple is now legendary for so many reasons.



More Shirley shots at my main website.

The Lorraine Motel

Back in 2009, I was in Memphis for a conference. As I typically do, I took an early morning with my camera hanging over my shoulder. When I'm in a new city for a short time, I do not want to miss capturing "that shot," thus the camera goes just about anywhere. As I was heading back to my hotel, I came upon what looked like one of those classic 1960's "No tell motels" (you know, the L-shaped buildings with two stories where just about anything and everything could happen). For some reason, this particular one really caught my attention.



The parking lot was empty except for two vintage automobiles.



And then I came upon the marker that made it apparent that I had stumbled upon the site where Martin Luther King was assassinated almost 49 years ago.



It truly sent chills up and down my spine. To be at the site where one human being decided to take away the life of another seems so unsettling to me. The amount of hate that causes that action is scary.



I hope that we can all pause and reflect today and allow ourselves to lower the temperature a bit and learn how to live respectfully with each other.



More Memphis and Civil Rights Museum photos at my main website.

Pigs on a Carrousel

In this 1950s shot we see the King Arthur Carrousel located near the entrance to Fantasyland. Two of the Three Pigs can be seen cavorting near this attraction. This was when the costumes were somewhat more scary than anything else.



Zooming in to another area of the image I believe I found another match to one of my construction photos.



Feast your eyes on Horse #56. While the colors here don't match what's on the horse in the previous photo, the shape does.



I have yet to find a contemporary shot of this horse. Another one for the proverbial photo checklist!

More King Arthur Carrousel photos at my main website.

Lucy's Italian Movie

Originally airing April 16, 1956, "Lucy's Italian Movie" is an "I Love Lucy" fan favorite. Having been asked to play a part in an Italian movie called "Bitter Grapes," Lucy mistakenly thinks the film is about a vineyard. Wanting to be her best, Lucy wanders off against Ricky's orders to research her part by working in a vineyard. Teresa Tirelli was the actress who played Lucy's coworker during the infamous grape-stomping sequence. Teresa also had a part in "Godfather II" as a midwife.



This episode also played in the background of "Pretty Woman" as Julia Roberts gets down to business with Richard Gere.

More shenanigans from Lucy at my main website.

Rock Gets A New Car

In this set of 1956 images, it appears that Rock Hudson is on the back lot of Universal Studios surveying his new car.



Let's take a closer look at the front grill work of his Imperial; no vanity plates for Rock!



Not sure who this other gent is.



He doesn't seem impressed.



See more Rock at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Poor Little Rich Girl

This September 1934 publicity photo of child star Shirley Temple was titled: POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL - PLAYS ALL BY HERSELF.

Shirley Temple, 6-year-old movie star is pictured exercising all by herself in the backyard of her home here. Her father has turned down an offer on her behalf for $416,000 for her professional services for two years. He said he vetoed it because Shirley is bound to another contract that pays her around $1,200 a week.

The “other” contract was that of Fox; at the time she was being loaned out to Paramount who wanted to keep her. Interestingly enough, Shirley was still listed at her actual age of 6; not long after Fox would shave a year off to make her seem even more talented for her years. Here’s a photo of Shirley with her mother during the same period when she was filming “Now and Forever” with Gary Cooper:



The publicity blurb for this shot reads:

Child Actress Studies On Location

Little Shirley Temple, sensational child film player, recites her lines to her mother before facing the camera while on location at Lake Arrowhead, Southern California resort, with a motion picture company.

More Shirley at my main website.

At Home with Monsters, Pt. 3

For part three I present another incredible Mike Hill piece, commemorating Ray Harryhausen, the stop-motion animation genius.



Fans of horror legend Peter Cushing will enjoy seeing this puppet created by Kevin McTurk:



I have always appreciated the twisted art of Gahan Wilson:



Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, is represented with art by Rogelio Naranjo:



and Rick Geary:



A slightly racy piece from 1955 by Ernesto Garcia 'Chango' Cabral titled "Tabledance."



Two life-sized statues of actors from the Tod Browning 1932 cult classic "Freaks." First one is Schlitizie by Thomas Keebler:



Keebler also did this one of Hans (played by Harry Earles):



I really liked this painting by Chris Peters called "Table Cross."



This etching is from the 18th century by Johann Esaias Nilson after Johann Elias Ridinger, and is appropriately titled "Das Sterben (Death)."



One more creepy bust of Nosferatu for you:



This life-sized photo mural shows del Toro's home, Bleak House, and many of the items that he shared for this exhibit:



I hope you enjoyed this exhibit as much as I did!

For more photos of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art visit my main website.